Acrobatic toy



July 9, v1946. Ec, 18E Y 2,403,509

n y AcRoBATIc TOY Y Filed June 5. 1944 Patented July 9, T946 UNITED STATES i, PATENT AOFFICE ACROBATIC TOY Foster C, Dise, Akron, Ohio Application June 5, 1944, Serial No. 538,763

2 Claims. 1.

The invention aims to provide a simple, inexpensive and amusing figure toy preferably simulating an elephant and a clown and so constructed that the clown may be made to perform various antics in the Vimmediate vicinity of the elephant. It is to be understood, however, thatvthe acrobatic gure need not'represent a, clown and that the stationary figure need not simulate an elephant Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing is a side elevation.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view.

A preferred construction has been shown and will be rather specically described, with the understanding, however, that within the scope of the invention as claimed, variations may be made An elongated base 5 is provided and upon the central longitudinal portion of this base a flat stationary figure 6 is secured, said figure representing an elephant.

An arm 'I is loosely pivoted at 8 to the stationary gure 6 to swing over said figure from a forward position to a rearward position, and in both of said positions, the arm projects from the figure. Lateral stop pins 9 are provided on the gure 6 to limit the descent of arm 'I when swung in either direction.

Loosely and pivotally hung at I fromthe outer end of the arm 1, is a flat acrobatic iigure 11 representing a clown and when said arm 'I is swung from one extreme position to the other, said figure simulates a clown jumping over an elephant, and during this movement, said figure may either rock to and fro, turn over and over, or remain substantially upright.r The arm 1 is preferably springy and if traveling sufciently fast when it strikes the abutment pins 9, it will, therefore, reverse and the figure I I will jump reversely over the gure 6.

The arm 1, as shown in Fig. 3, is in the form of a rectangular loop having long straight sides and shortnend portions which form pivots. The sides of the loop or arm 'I extend along the opposite flat sides of the figures 6 and II which are of the same thickness, and said arm is normally supported on the opposite projecting ends of the pins 9 which extend through the stationary figure 6.

Two levers I2 and I3 of flat platform-like shape are provided over the front and rear Dortions of the base 5, said levers being fulcrumed on pins I4 which extend through the same and through spaced blocks I secured to said base.

The'inner ends of these levers are overbalanced to normally rest upon the base 5 andto elevate the outer ends of said levers. The aforesaid long innerends of these levers I2 and I3 are positioned so that one or the other willv underlie the acrobatic figure II when the latter hangs idly from the arm 'I and the latter rests on either of the pins 9. Thus; by manually depressing the short outer end of the lever over 'which the figure II is hanging, the inner end of said lever will be raised and said figure I I will be thrown into the air. If the lever be rather gently operated, the gure I I will jump a slight amount and return, in all probability rocking during the jump. A more forcible operation of the lever will of course cause the figure II to jump higher, and if forcible enough will cause it to jump completely over the gure 6, rocking to and fro or somersaulting, during the jump. An unusually forcible depression of the lever will cause the figure II to notV only jump over the gure B but it will reverse when the arm 'I strikes the abutment pins 9 and it will jump back to the starting point. It will be noted from Fig. 1 that the abutment pins 9 are so positionedV that they are struck by an intermediate portion of the resilient arm 1, preferably a point about midway its length, so that when said arm strikes one of the pins with considerable force, it will bow longitudinally because of the momentum of the acrobatic figure on the free end of the arm. Such momentary bowing of the arm will cause it to lash back and reversely throw the acrobatic figure back to the end from which it was propelled by one of the`levers I2 or I3 if such lever was given a forceful blow. It will thus be 'seen that by operating the levers or platforms I2 and I3 in different ways, the figure II may be made to perform various amusing antics.

All parts of the device, except the arm 1, pins 9 and fulcrums I4 may well be of wood, and lengths of ordinary resilient wire may be used for said parts 1, 9 and I4. However, materials other than wood may be used if desired, metal, fibre or plastic for examples.

From the foregoing and the accompanying drawing, it will be seen that novel provision has been made for carrying out the object of the invention and while preferences have been disclosed, attention is again invited to the possibility of making variations within the scope of rthe invention as claimed.

I claim: 1. A figure toy comprising a base, a stationary figure secured upon and projecting upwardly from said base, a resilient arm pivoted on a horizontal axis to said stationary iigure between the front and rear ends of the latter to swing upwardly over said iigure from a normally lowered position in which it projects either forwardly er rearwardly from said gure, an acrobatic ligure pivotally hung from the outer free end of said arm, and rigid abutments projecting laterally-from said stationary figure near its front and rear ends to abut said resilient arm adjacent its longitudinal center when it is swung either forwardly or rearwardly over said stationary figure, and an actuating means for said acrobatic figure mounted at each end of said base and positioned beneath said acrobatic figure when the latter is in one of its lowered positions, whereby when one of said actuating means is operated with considerable force to engage said acrobatic gure and project it and said resilient arm upwardly over said stationary figure, the momentum of saidvac'robatic figure will cause momentary bowing of said arm as it strikes one of said 'vabu'tments and the resultant back lash of said armvilllreversely throw said acrobatic figure baci; to a position above the actuating means which was operated to project it.

A figure toy comprising anfelongated base, a flat stationary ligure projecting upwardly from said base along its longitudinal axis and of less lejngth than saidbase, a resilient arm comprising a rectangular loop having resilient long side portions disposed on opposite sides of said figure and short connecting end portions, one of the latter being engaged with a centrally positioned transverse opening in said figure to pivotally mount said arm for swinging upwardly over said ligure from a normally lowered position in which it projects either forwardly or rearwardly from the ends of said figure, a flat acrobatic gure positioned between said side portions of the loop and having a transverse opening to receive the other short end portion of the loop to pivotally mount the acrobatic figure on the fre'e end of the arm, rigid abutment pins extending through and projecting laterally from the opposite sides of said stationary iigure near its front and rear ends to abut the long side portions of said arm loop when the latter is swung either forwardly or rearwardly over said stationary figure, said abutments being positioned to be struck by the long side portions of said loop at points about midway of the ends of the latter so that the momentum of said acrobatic vfigure will cause momentary bowing of Said resilient side portions when they strike either the forward or rearward abutment pins with considerable force, whereby said arm loop will then lash back and reversely throw said acrobatic figure to the point from which it was propelled, and manually operated actuating means for said acrobatic figure positioned on each end of said base beyond the ends of said stationary gure for engagement with said acrobatic iigure to propel it and said arm loop upwardly and over said stationary figure.

FOSTER C. DISE. 

